Corteva Agriscience and Agriculture Victoria Announce Agreement

Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, and Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd. (AVS), the commercial arm of Agriculture Victoria, announced a license agreement for a novel source of blackleg resistance in canola (Brassica napus) developed by AVS using Optimum Haploid Value (OHV) technology. The OHV technology was developed under the long-standing and productive strategic collaboration between AVS and Corteva Agriscience™.

“This announcement further illustrates the value of external collaborations to not only develop new tools and technologies but also their application to create novel sources of resistance. We look forward to rapidly enhancing our portfolio of integrated solutions for growers who continue to face increased blackleg pressure in their canola fields” said Dr. Steven Webb, R&D director - External Technology at Corteva Agriscience™.

Through the application of OHV and genomic selection, AVS identified new sources of blackleg resistance for canola that will help combat a fungal pest that causes significant annual losses to canola growers. Per the agreement signed today, Corteva Agriscience™ will license the technology to begin testing and development using traditional breeding to incorporate the stronger blackleg resistance genetics into canola varieties sold under both the Pioneer® and Nexera™ brands.

“Through the application of OHV technology, we’ve been able to make great strides in our efforts to support canola growers in Australia and other canola-growing regions. We are proud to partner with Corteva Agriscience™ to seek innovative solutions to challenging conditions worldwide” stated Professor German Spangenberg, deputy secretary, Agriculture Research at Agriculture Victoria.

Optimum Haploid Value (OHV) is a patent pending technology developed through a partnership by Dow AgroSciences (now part of the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont) and AVS to help select optimal parental lines and accelerate plant breeding across many crops, including canola. The OHV technology is an extension of genomic selection, an approach that uses genetic and phenotypic information from plant populations to predict the most productive parental lines, accelerating crop genetic improvement. OHV can shorten breeding cycles, provide accurate evaluation of plant performance at the seedling stage and give plant breeders the ability to evaluate a much larger number of plants without the need to grow them in the target environment.

Licenses for OHV technology are available from Corteva Agriscience™. Licenses for OHV blackleg resistance canola technology are available from AVS.